Sweetie idly played with a bowl of mash, her eyes following it as it moved back and forth. The mess hall of the holding cells beneath Canterlot was rather large, and Sweetie was grateful she had found a quiet place to brood. Well, somewhat quiet. She still heard all the whispers and insults, even in prison, everyone knew about the idiot war hero who slaughtered thousands with her recklessness and had provoked Twilight(some had taken to calling the former princess a deity). The quiet was shattered when a clawed foot smashed the bowl, causing Sweetie to look up, her face expressionless.

"You killed off half my squad during one of your big raids" the big, black gryphon snarled, flaring out her wings. Sweetie mentally added that to the list of failures she had committed.

"What's wrong, aren't going to eat your mash like the pig you are?" a batpony chuckled, joining in with the gryphon along with a couple of identical earth ponies. Sweetie merely looked down and stayed quiet, causing the gryphon to snarl in anger and ram his fist into Sweetie's belly, grabbing her by the mane with the other and yanking her out of the corner.

"Can't do anything without your element, Miss Belle?" one of the earth ponies tittered, his twin grabbing her left arm whilst he grabbed the right to raise her up.

"We are all going to die because of your stupidity" the gryphon accused, punching Sweetie in her gut once more and causing her to wheeze. Still, she did not fight back. She deserved this. "Remaining stoic, huh? Well, at least you have some honor" the gryphon growled, unsheathing his claws and rocketing them forward. Before they could touch Sweetie's fur, a red tail snaked around the gryphon's neck and slammed him against a wall. "Discord" the gryphon spat, wiping blood from his beak. The draconequus was covered in runes to suppress his power, but even so, he ran the roost.

"You are all so droll, picking on weaklings. I tried it once, didn't work out" Discord said almost nonchalantly, looking at Sweetie with about as much concern as someone stepping on an ant. "And how about you. You're tougher than this, you could make things fun around here. But you just sit there" Discord sneered, crossing his arms in disgust. He had enjoyed his romps with the Freedom Buddies or whatever they had been called, it distracted him from having to think about Fluttershy and how she had abandoned him. Though, now that he thought about it, Celestia might have killed her. Then again, Celestia was too much of a goodie two shoes, even as the Solar Queen, to do that.

"Get him!" the batpony squealed, a mob of about 5 prisoners rushing Discord and leaping on top of him, which led to 6 other prisoners fighting each other, and so on, until the mess hall was in utter chaos.

"Solitary isolation for you two" a gruff faced unicorn grunted, slamming the door on two cells opposite to each other before leaving the isolation wing.

"At least do it with the others too!" Discord called out after her before she left his sight. He turned to look at Sweetie, who didn't seem to be all that wounded, shockingly. Well, except for her magic not working and her coat being gray. He had heard of symptoms like this, seen them too. It happened when someone with a strong, magical connection, lost(or thought they lost) whatever they embodied. "Perk up Sweetie, you may have lost the princess, been betrayed by Applebloom, and locked in jail, but things could always be worse. How, I'm not sure, but they could be" Discord rambled, trying to get a reaction, of any kind, from the silent unicorn. Still nothing. "Come on! You defeated Celestia for crying out loud! Do something!" Discord cried out, running out of tricks to make her talk.

"There's nothing for me to do" Sweetie replied flatly. "I'm history, this place is perfect for me".

The crystal caves glowed with multicolored light as Applebloom and a teal colored unicorn opened Celestia's cell. Separated from the others, Celestia's cell was a marvel, built out of the magic reflecting crystal in such a way that if she tried anything, she'd hit herself. To top it off, it was sealed by solid rock and locked from the outside. As the rock panel broke apart, the magic holding it together dissolving from the unicorn's efforts, Applebloom went over what she was going to say in her head.

"Thank you, Lyra. Is Celestia awake?" Applebloom asked her aide.

"She should be" Lyra responded nervously, not sure as to how to answer a question that she couldn't know the answer too.

"Why would you bring a dead mare to the world of the living?" Celestia murmured, her coat dirty and matted, her ribs showing through her sides, and in general looking more like a beggar than a princess.

"Your gloom and doom stuff started to happen, Twilight is apparently alive and is starting an extermination" Applebloom responded, emnity from their last encounter palpable. "Look, I won't judge you on what happened before, but we need your help now" Applebloom sighed, trying to bury the hatred she felt for this monster. "Just tell me the whole story" Applebloom said quickly, in case Celestia had any ideas.

"I'm sure you all know about the day when I became the Solar Queen. Well, on that day, Twilight had begun scorching parts of Equestria, before sending a letter to Luna and me, talking about how she had seen the light and she would purify this world, that the Elements of Harmony should be disposed of. Then she killed Luna. She told me that if I followed her orders, break apart friends and family along with oppressing my subjects, then she wouldn't come to destroy everything. I did everything for your sake. Obviously, she has chosen to keep her word" Celestia explained, her voice cracking on certain parts of the story as old guilt was brought up again.

"Is there any way she could be lying?" Lyra whispered, shaking in fear now.

"Twilight will not do that. The Moon will crash and then all is finished. I'm sorry" Celestia responded, crestfallen Next Chapter: Plans Change Estimated time remaining: 18 Minutes